Dear Kirty,
Welcome to Eng 110! I know it was a little tough to get this course because of certain situations, but it’s alright because you managed to enroll! I know you love writing essays and would prefer papers over math classes but please keep in mind that despite loving something you still need to put in effort and still need to give it all you got! This class will be a little hard to handle, not because the material is tough, but because you will be extremely busy. I would recommend communicating with you professor all the time about this so that you both can come up with a way to go about this. I would also recommend not putting too much on your plate and making academics your sole focus and not doing your papers late because then you will be up all day or night trying to finish what you can. But I know you wouldn’t have let it get to this point if it wasn’t necessary. You will really like Phase 1, you can write about your favorite Ms. Parker and relive the moments again. For phase 2 you might not like it at first but you’ll get a good partner so do not worry! I know you don’t like group work. Phase 3 and 4 will definitely be time consuming. But you’ll just have to get through it because we need to pass this class! Phase 3 will be research, it will feel dreadful at first but find a topic you love and it’ll feel a little light. As for phase 4, you need to write about your past assignments and what you have learned so remember everything you write about so you do not have to go back and forth to reflect about it. Lastly, I know you’re trying your best! And I am proud of you for trying your best. Situations come and go, that is life. But continue your perseverance and your determination and everything will work out well!
Self- Assessment Part 2
Over the past few months, I’ve learned that writing is not just about communicating ideas but also about discovering them. Sometimes, you won’t fully understand your own thoughts until you start writing them down. This process of discovery is one of the most rewarding aspects of writing. I’ve also realized the importance of discipline.Writing can be challenging, but with persistence and a positive attitude, you will improve. Throughout this course, I completed multiple assignments that have most definitely improved my writing skills. In the first assignment, I learned what writing should mean to you.
Throughout the first few days, I also learned that writing can be a form of communication and literature. The class read a very impactful text, Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”. In this text I got to experience how she effectively uses rhetorical situations, most importantly ethos, in order to communicate. Tan’s anecdote about her struggles with her mother’s broken English in America demonstrates the challenges they faced. After analyzing this text, the next step was to complete a rhetorical analysis worksheet that had helped me examine the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, and identify the exigence, genre, and purpose of her article. As well as the tone and how she connects emotionally with her audience, especially through her personal struggles. For Phase 1, the last step was to write your own Narrative by finding a moment from your life that had a huge impact on you regarding language and/or literature. I personally really enjoyed this, because I got to write about my favorite teacher. For this, I gave examples in my essay about how Ms. Parker really encouraged me to read and was such a kind soul to me. I talked about how she always motivated me to be my best version without pushing me and making me feel like I was not holding her expectations.
For Phase 2, I did not think I would enjoy this because it was a very partner work heavy essay. I like to believe that I work best when I work alone, so I was not a huge fan of this factor of phase 2. However, I think this class has definitely changed that about me a little bit. I do not find it amusing, but I do not dislike it as much as I did before. So this is also an aspect that I have improved on from this class. My partner, Arnob, was very easy to work with. I really enjoyed reading his narrative. Phase 2 also consisted of interviewing my partner. And I remember we needed a transcript and an audio of the interview, getting the transcript was not hard, as we had written down our questions and answers. The tough part for me was thinking how we might get the audio. We thought about meeting up but our schedules unfortunately did not align. We tried to see if we could call and record that way but that was a failure as well unfortunately. Thankfully Arnob had the idea to record via zoom and so we did. And that is how we got our audio clips for this assignment.
Phase 3 was interesting, however it was very lengthy. I chose to write about the supernatural. From this paper I learned how to properly make use of annotations and how to properly use MLA citations. Phase 4 was a little lengthy but writing a self-assessment is a great way to reflect about the past semester and try to improve for the semester after. I really enjoyed the self reflection as well!
